Save Article

The Chance for a New Life

Updated Sept. 1, 2004 12:01 a.m. ET

Your Aug. 26 article "As Background Checks Proliferate, Ex-Cons Face Jobs Lock" caught my attention. When I was released from prison more than a dozen years ago, someone took a chance and hired me, in spite of my record. As a friend once said, "My crime was what I did, it is not who I am."

More than 600,000 American men and women will be released from prison this year. It would be in society's best interest to find a way to help this population re-enter the job market. All that ingenuity and effort to...